Then I wonder if that would keep your contact list compact...
![^o)](images/smilies/msn_sarcastic.gif)
It's possible, that's for sure, but I guess it's quite hard to predict the size of the contact list where all contacts are shown. Think about the details view, any patches which affect the size of a contact entry in the list, etc.
I can be wrong, but I don't get it why you want to enlarge your contact list to keep it compact...
![*-)](images/smilies/msn_thinking.gif)